Monday, March 15, 2010

Serial killing

Anyone else have a powerful fascination for serial killers?

I do. One of the best gifts from my wife, a couple Xmases ago, was the Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. There I was on Xmas morning, my beautiful kids scampering around me, tinsel glimmering on the tree, my nose in a book about death, destruction, and dismemberment. Glorious.

This interest (NOT an obsession, I promise) means I know most of the infamous serial killers, their names and the way they killed. But I was shocked to learn over the weekend of one whose name I barely recognized, a modern day killer who is in the news and maybe have killed.... well, they just don't know.

His name is Rodney Alcala. His MO was not unlike that of Ted Bundy, a smooth and charming approach to disarm his potential victims. But perhaps the creepiest thing is that this guy was on the ABC show, The Dating Game. You can see footage of it by clicking here. Notice the body language of the guy next to him, too. And even though Alcala won, I read somewhere that the girl refused to go on a date with him, because he was too creepy. Lucky, lucky, girl.

Now the police need help identifying potential victims from photos Alcala took himself. A truly bizarre tale, and one without a very happy ending for most.

1 comment:

Yes, I have to admit. The first time I seen the video of Alcala on "The Dating Game" I wasn't aware he was a serial killer until the person showing me it told me but even before that the guy immediately stuck me as not right. The guy next to him is clearly creeped out. I also heard the gold earrings he was wearing while on set actually belonged to one of his victims. I don't know if this is true or not since none of the media outlets are sensationalizing the crap out of this point, but for a serial killer, it wouldn't surprise me.

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The first in the Hugo Marston mystery series:

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About Me

I am a prosecutor and writer in Austin, Texas. My first novel, a mystery called THE BOOKSELLER, was released in October of 2012, the sequel, THE CRYPT THIEF, came out in May of this year, and the third in the series will be out in January 2014.
Author website: www.MarkPryorBooks.com
Email: Mark[at]MarkPryorBooks [.]com.